McDonogh overcomes a rare early deficit to top St. Paul’s and remain unbeaten in A Conference lacrosse

By Nelson Coffin
nelson@iaamsports.com

Rare as it is for McDonogh’s lacrosse team to fall behind a league rival in any game this season, a 2-0 deficit to St. Paul’s School for Girls on Monday afternoon proved to be managable for the defending A Conference champs.

After giving up goals to Gator juniors Caroline Hoskins and Marleigh O’Day, the Eagles closed out the first quarter on a 5-0 run to take control of what turned out to be a hard-earned 10-8 victory.

Senior midfielder Kate Levy started the comeback by whipping in a wicked lefty runner before sophomore midfielder Ayiana Rippin’s steal-and-score deadlocked the teams with 5:35 remaining in the opening period.

Senior Amanda Lawson grabbed the ensuing draw and converted a free position moments later to put McDonogh on top for good.

Senior attacker Sophia Trahan converted a Levy feed to make it, 4-2, until senior midfielder Remi Schaller’s quick stick gave the Eagles a 5-2 advantage as time expired in the period.

St. Paul’s bounced back early in the second quarter on sophomore Gabby Munsell’s power move through the arc to slice the deficit to two goals, but could never draw any closer.

The Gators (13-5, 10-3 A Conference) clawed their way back to within a pair of goals four more times, only to be frustrated each time by McDonogh’s ability to hold them at arm’s length.

With the victory, the Eagles, who had already locked up the No. 1 seed in the upcoming playoffs, won their 30th straight victory against conference foes with 13 of those verdicts recorded this spring under first-year coach Megan Huether Nicotra.

As usual, McDonogh’s tough defense keyed the triumph with stellar slides, slick double teams and spot-on positioning.

That said, the Gators, paced by Hoskins’ three goals, did well to score eight times against the stingy Eagles and junior goalie Reagan O’Donovan. Only SPSG, Garrison Forest and John Carroll have scored as many goals against McDonogh this season.

Junior Mckenzie Brown and sophomore Kit Laake are two major reasons why the Eagles’ backline is so solid, with Brown’s speed making her an added threat on swift and solo clears.

Brown said that the unit “stepped up as a team” while focusing on increased communication skills to get the job done.

Levy, who produced a game-high four goals and also added an assist, said that the rivalry with St. Paul’s is special.

“Whenever you play them, you know you’re going to have to get up for it and it’s going to be a physical battle, no matter the score,” Levy said. “I think we needed this challenge. This team needs to know they have the fight in them to win any game, no matter the circumstance or what’s happening.”

From her perspective, St. Paul’s coach Mary Gagnon said that her team is young on the offensive side of the field.

“I think that’s the difference in the game,” said Gagnon, who guided the Gators to the 2021 and 2022 titles. “We have no seniors on attack. They played well, but not as poised as you would want them to — and not as poised as McDonogh showed. We panicked some, but the playoffs are coming up and we needed to go through that. We have talent. It’s there. We’ve just got to trust it and run the offense.”

McDonogh will begin its title defense when it hosts the winner of the Glenelg Country School-Bryn Mawr play-in game in the quarterfinal round on May 3, the same day SPSG and Notre Dame Prep will meet for a berth in a semifinal May 8 at the higher seed.

The championship will be held May 10 at Tierney Field at the USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks at 7 p.m.